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Training, Life, & Sled Dogs

Sarah · October 12, 2014 ·

The weather has started turning. We’ve seen snow once or twice now, brief flurries but it doesn’t really get our hopes up just yet. It’s still early for snow, especially in Seward. Although our friends further north in Fairbanks are on sleds, we wait and take the ATVS out with the sled dogs. We’ve continued finishing projects from around the house and kennel. It’s amazing how much work there always seems to be: building dog houses, fixing things, putting things away. The days seem both long and short, we look forward to bed but never seem to have accomplished all we have hoped to complete. Everything is always ending too soon.

My cellphone went missing earlier in the week. We have a thief in our midst – a cute two year old part sled dog dog named Max who, by now, I know was the culprit. He’s taken many things from us over the past two years we’ve had him: balls of yarn, our house phones, knives, kitchen plates, empty beer bottles… and now my cellphone. It hasn’t been that big of a deal: I am not a huge talker anyways, but I do miss being able to take pictures and videos — especially because we have Pippa, a young 6 week old sled dog puppy, living inside and she is always doing something adorable like falling asleep on my slippers or curling up next to Betty. On more than one occasion Pippa’s gone “missing” only to be found in the dirty laundry pile or under a heap of blankets.

Things continue to go well and we are slowly heading in the right direction. Today I went for a walk and discovered that there were 24 salmon in the small drainage ditch by our house. Considering that the ditch is less than 2 feet wide and less than 2 feet deep in most places, I was fairly impressed. There were also lots of other fish, which I am assuming were fry (young salmon). We pass by this area frequently with the dogs but the dogs usually scare most of the fish away — with good reason too. Last year, our dogs Bud and Weiser (the Clydesdales) both caught themselves fish on a few different occasions. I’ve seen a young pup look at the fish with a tempted eye but we no longer stop our teams near the fish as we want to promote the run — even if it is in a ditch.

Our house dogs are also doing well. They seem to be getting older and we are reminded that the only fault our dog’s possess is that their lives are far too short. We watch Archie struggle to get on the couch more and more frequently. Still, he seems undeterred. Any action, of course, is surmountable if there is plenty of kibble involved. He is an old dog though, 13 or 14 by now, and well travelled too having run in numerous Iditarod’s and Junior Iditarods and countless 200 & 300 mile races. Often, we find that he will go in the dog lot and steal another sled dog’s house and make them curl up outside. When we run, he is always there. He barks at the dog team while we hook up and chases us when we leave — never far — but enough. I’ve watched Perry, his partner, shiver with excitement when the dog team rounds the corner into the yard and gives him the opportunity to chase. Old sled dogs, perhaps, but always young at heart.

October, with the cold air blowing down off the mountains and the leaves fallen off the trees, is a month that leads to wistful thinking. I’ve thought a lot about my dog Chena, who will have been gone three years at the end of the month. She was with me for such a short time but impacted my life in such a profound way. Dogs, I suppose, will do that.

We leave now on another adventure… a story, perhaps, for later on in the week.

Training Sled Dogs in the Fall and Why It’s Important For Success

Sarah · October 7, 2014 ·

Although it is called “dog sledding,” much of the important training that happens to a competitive dog sled team actually happens in the fall on ATVS or carts long before there is any snow. While perhaps strange to those unfamiliar with the sport, fall training provides a crucial first look at the team a musher has to work with for the coming season and puts on the early fitness foundation required for later success.

Most mushers generally start fall training some time during the month of September. Our kennel generally starts towards the end of the month as many of our dogs run all summer long doing dog sled tours and a few weeks off between the last tour and the official start of the season are needed for both dog and musher alike. After a few weeks, however, it is back to training. A team, especially one training for Iditarod, needs to build a solid conditioning foundation and this often takes several months to accomplish.

Iditarod is a 1,000 mile long dogsled race but at its core, is really nothing more than a canine marathon. The race is an endurance event that requires high levels of physical fitness and mental preparation from both the dogs and the mushers that run it. Just as humans need months to prepare for a marathon, our dogs require several months of training before they set out on Iditarod.

Training Sled Dogs: The First Few Runs

Fall training starts out in incremental steps where we slowly build mileage up for our dogs. First runs generally are between 5-7 miles in length and are highly dictated by the weather: huskies cannot run in warm weather so most runs are done in the early morning or at night, when temperatures are coolest. Often, these runs require numerous stops that allow the dogs time to pant so that the dogs can get rid of excess heat. Mushers also cater their training runs to hit water sources such as rivers, streams, or even large puddles where the dogs can drink and cool off.

Training Sled dogs during the fall requires finding water sources. Here the team stops at a creek next to the road we train on.

Training Sled Dogs On ATVS

All-Terrain-Vehicles (ATVs) are equipped with numerous features that allow mushers to maintain maximum control of their team during fall training. The ATV is a good choice because we have both gas and brakes at our disposal as training tools. The ATV can also be put into various gears to determine how much the dogs will pull. When put into 1st gear, the dogs have to pull against the gears of the machine making for a tougher pull. Higher gears ease the pull and allow the dogs to travel faster by having to pull less. Generally, mushers vary gears throughout training.

We primarily run in 2nd and 3rd gear as well as neutral but will occasionally put the ATV in 1st gear and require the dogs to do some tough pulling. Other mushers, of course, do it differently.

Training early on in the season allows mushers to look at their dogs with fresh eyes from the previous season. With another year on their belt, dogs that previously ran in the team may now show qualities that warrant their training as a lead dog. In the fall, we run enough short runs that it is a great chance to try new dogs up front.

Positioning Sled Dogs in the Team

The fall is also a good time to bring younger dogs up onto the main team. During the fall, we spend run after run looking at how we match our dogs and where we place them in the team to maximize our efficiency.

For example, earlier this week I ran a dog named Cricket towards that back of the team. No matter what speed we traveled at, Cricket always trotted. As a young, energetic but smaller dog, if she is going to make our race team it will probably be as a lead dog. Knowing this later in the week I ran Cricket behind our swing dogs. I wanted to give her more experience up near the front of the team where, some day, she will hopefully end up. Up that far, Cricket trotted but whenever we started moving at a faster pace she loped. Our travelling speeds were no different than the run I had taken her out on earlier in the week. The team was also identical. The only thing that changed was Cricket’s position and that, it seemed, affected her gait. In general, we want our dogs to maintain a nice steady trot. Does this mean I will run Cricket in the back of the team? No, it means I need to work with her so that she can have her smooth trot further up in the team.

Chemistry: Finding The Right Match for Sled Dogs

In dog sledding, finding the right match for your dogs is also important. A good pairing of dogs can bring the best out in each dog while a bad pairing can bring out the worst. Often, we find that dogs can be paired with one or two other dogs. We aren’t talking about getting along: all of our dogs get along well. When we talk about pairing, we talk about having two dogs that work and move in sync and that also motivate each other to work hard.

Ideally, we want a team that moves as a single unit, rather than as 16 disjointed pieces. A well-trained dog team should move in sync, the legs of the dogs moving synchronously so that as one dog swings his front legs forward, they all do. Having good pairs is important because it is the pairings that comprise the team. Mushers often talk, admire, and want beautifully gaited dogs because the dog is the first building block of smooth team.

Moving Sled Dogs Around

In training sled dogs, especially in the summer during tours and in the fall when we are more focused on short runs, we can try many new pairings. Many mushers like to move dogs around during runs but we generally do not do that in our kennel. We want our dogs to know that if they are hooked up in a certain position or next to a certain dog they will finish the run in that position next to their partner.

There are some exceptions to this, of course, but most of those involve working with young dogs. With young dogs, our goal is to focus on making their time out on the trail positive and to inspire confidence. This is no different than we do with young kids: we don’t start off pitching curve balls to first graders, they hit a ball off of stand. We make things as easy as possible for our young dogs and build their confidence thus setting them up for success later on in their careers.

How Do We Pick Sled Dog Pairings?

So if pairings are so important, how do we pick them? Really talented mushers usually just know after a few runs. These are the dog-savy people who just innately have a gift of understanding and communicating with dogs. For the rest of us, it’s trial and error. Often, there are many clues that dogs will run well together. Typically littermates or dogs from similar genetic backgrounds will run well together as, genetically speaking, they should have similar builds. Similarly sized dogs also generally do well together. Other than that, it requires assessing a dog’s gait. Believe it or no, most top mushers do not have perfectly gaited dogs — what they have is well-paired dogs.

Training Sled Dogs: Finding A Lead Dog

The fall also lends itself as a great time to train new lead dogs as the control of the ATV makes it easy if problems arise or commands are perfectly followed. We say “finding” new leads dogs as, with any leader, the dog must have certain traits that cannot be trained into it. Lead dogs are generally some of the most eager to run dogs on a team as well as the most athletic. While most people believe that intelligence is important, it is actually the least important trait that our leaders have.

In our kennel, we look for three traits: athleticism, attitude, and aptitude. In some dogs, these traits stand out in a dog even as a young pup – at that time it’s clear this dog is a leader and should begin some form of leader training. Other dogs, however, mature into having the all-star can-do-it attitude that mushers look for and rely on in their lead dogs.

In any event, when we find lead dogs training them in their initial runs in lead on an ATV can be very beneficial as the ATV maximizes our ability to reward our dogs. Our dogs naturally want to run and pull – they wouldn’t be sled dogs if they didn’t – so training a lead dog is all about channeling that pull in the right direction. The commands we use in mushing are “gee” for right and “haw” for left.

Using the ATV, we can reward the dogs when they get a command correct by giving the ATV a little gas. If the dogs do not get the command right, we simply stop the team. Because these dogs want to run and because they hear us talking to them, they will try to do something different – like try a different direction – to see if that produces their desired result which is, of course, to resume running. That is it. That is the great secret to training commands to our lead dogs. While it takes lots of patience, we aren’t doing anything extraordinary. We are simply using our dogs love of running as positive reinforcement.

Why Is Training Sled Dogs In Th Fall So Important?

Fall training is important because it is a time of trying new things and getting back in the groove of training. Properly conditioning the dogs for long distance events such as Iditarod is important and requires that mushers start months in advance so that when it is time to race, the dogs are at their peak physical condition and have a solid foundation. It is also the start of that season’s adventures and we are always excited with possibility about what our team will be able to accomplish in the months to come.

You can learn more about fall training from an earlier post we did: Fall Training For Sled Dogs.

Seppala Kennel‘s also has an excellent post about the progression of training from fall to winter.

Gearing Up The Dog Team

Sarah · October 2, 2014 ·

This week has been full of projects. We end our days tired with movies and puppies playing at our feet. We’ve been working on our enclosed trailer. It’s a 24 foot trailer we are going to use to transport our dog team and will hopefully allow us enough room where we can bunk in it if needed. We started by putting a fresh coat of paint on the floor and are now building the dog boxes to go in it. We are hoping to have 24 boxes in total in our trailer. Because we live in Seward, we spend a lot of time on the road training our dogs. On the plus side, our dogs love to travel, can all run loose outside the truck, and get to experience tons of trails all around Alaska.

Training runs are starting to take up more and more time. I’m running 12 dogs per team and have been working on finding good partners for each dog. Great chemistry makes a great team.

We’ve both been trying to work with leaders who haven’t had as much experience at the front of the team. We’ve had a few surprises early on with dogs. Bud is a 4 year old male who has never made the race team but this year is showing incredibly potential. It seems like his gait has really changed and he’s finally found his feet.

When not running dogs, we’ve relaxed watching netflix and hanging out with our younger pups. They run around inside, crawl and climb over everything, and, in general, have way too much energy. We enjoy watching them learn and play together. It will only be a few months before they are running too — a good reminder of how quickly time flies. Nothing is permanent, our life is always evolving.

Today Seward saw heavy sheets of rain slipping from the sky. The dogs sat outside their houses looking up at the sky as if to ask, “Where is the snow?” Our friends, further to the north have posted about snow flakes and flurries. Some are even on sleds! For us, the snow remains up high, coating the mountains that peer down at our house and kennel.

All too soon we will see snow of our own.

What Is A Sled Dog

Sarah · September 30, 2014 ·

Sled Dogs: An Overview

An Alaska Mushing Tour featuruing Pinky and Mary

Sled dogs are dogs that have been trained to pull sleds across snow. In months where there is no snow the dogs train on dirt and sleds are substituted for carts, ATVs, or even vehicles. Travis and I primarily use ATVs for training purposes and use carts for our summer tours. While we have never run dogs on our truck, we know many mushers who have; it is a very efficient way to train lots of dogs at once.

While any dog is technically capable of becoming a sled dog, those specifically bred for the purpose of running and pulling show the most athletic talent on the trail. There are three main breeds of dog used today: The Siberian husky, the Alaskan malamute, and the Alaskan husky.

The Siberian husky is the most well-known sled dog breed as it is typically used in movies, advertisements, and on postcards. The malamute is primarily associated with freight hauling and weight-pull competitions, but played a crucial role in Alaska’s early development as a freight-hauling dog. Here at our kennel, we focus on racing and training Alaskan huskies who are a highly versatile breed of sled dog and are the dog of choice in dog sled races due to their speed, stamina, and drive.

Common Sled Dog Breeds

Siberian Huskies – The Traditional Sled Dog

When you think of sled dog, it’s hard not to picture a beautiful Siberian Husky. While less popular in today’s racing circuit than the Alaskan Husky, the Siberian husky has many years of history in Alaska. Teams of Siberian huskies were used to haul freight and mail over supply trails in Alaska during the winter.

The most famous of these dogs was a Siberian husky named Balto from Nome, Alaska. Balto was a black Siberian husky owned by Gunnar Kaasen, Balto is known for his roll in helping to save the village of Nome from a deadly diphtheria outbreak. In 1925, Nome was only accessible by dog team in the winter. When children in Nome suddenly started contracting diphtheria, life-saving serum was transported hundreds of miles by dog sled relay. Balto, was the lead dog on the final team that delivered the medicine in to Nome. His story is commemorated through film, book, and statue: there is a statue of Balto in Central Park in New York City. For more information on Balto and the 1925 Serum Run check out Balto’s True Story.

As a breed, Siberian huskies are known for their inquisitive minds as well as their independent nature. As pet dogs, they can prove to be a nuisance as they love to roam and explore.

We own one Siberian husky named Faraday. She knows exactly what she likes and what she doesn’t like and can often be found slinking around outside acting as if she is about to get into trouble of some sort. She rarely chooses to come inside our home, instead preferring the comfort of a doghouse. She is happiest, it seems, when left to her own devices. We treasure the moments when she chooses to grace us with her presence and her affection as they are somewhat few and far between.

Faraday rests on her house during a sled dog tour.

Although not as popular in dog sled races, there are still many mushers who choose race Siberian huskies. Lisbet Norris of Anandyr Siberians is a good friend. Lisbet and her family now have the longest running Siberian Husky Kennel in the world. She will be competing in Iditarod 2015. In the 2014 Iditarod, Travis spent many hours on the trail with Mike Ellis and his team of Siberian Huskies. Karen Ramstead, of Canada, is another musher who races Siberian Huskies. Lev Shvarts runs both Siberian huskies and Alaskan Huskies and will be competing in the 2015 Iditarod — Lev is one of the first people to teach me how to run sled dogs. I started my journey training sled dogs back with Lev in Winchenden, MA back in 2010 and am excited to be sharing the race trail with him this year.

Alaskan Malamutes – Freighting Sled Dogs

These are the big, fluffy dogs used primarily during the Gold Rush for freight hauling as well as for trap lining. In general, the malamutes tend to be slow when compared to teams of Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Huskies. Teams of malamutes were renowned for their incredible strength. Today, malamutes primarily compete in weight pull competitions but were historically important in Alaska as freight-hauling dogs.

The Alaskan Husky – The Racing Sled Dog

Contrary to popular belief, the Alaskan husky is not a purebred dog. Many Alaskan huskies have genetic traits linking them to Siberian huskies, Alaskan malamutes, German-shorthaired pointers, Irish setters, and other hunting dogs. These breeds were bred in for various reasons but, in the end, the goal was to create a better sled dog.

When giving a sled dog tour, we often explain to our guests that the Alaskan husky is an expensive northern breed mutt – but it’s important to note that we have extensive family trees on our dogs. Knowing these family trees helps us to make good breeding decisions and gives us a better idea of the litter we will produce.

Sarah Stokey in the 2011 Tustumena 200 Dog Sled Race — Sarah Stokey in the 2012 Tustumena 200 with a team of Alaskan Huskies. Photo courtesy of Clark Fair.

One thing that is often very misleading to people unfamiliar with the Alaskan Husky is that the Alaskan husky can come in a wide variety of colors, sizes, and hair lengths. Because of this, it may be easier to think of the Alaskan Husky as a “type” of dog, with many different “sub-types.” For example, a musher who is breeding dogs for a 30 mile sprint event is going to be looking for different traits than a musher who is breeding dogs for a 1,000 mile event. Yet, if you ask these mushers what kind of dogs they have, they would both answer “Alaskan Husky” despite the fact that because the dogs are being bred for different purposes they are, ultimately, going to differ physically. In general, dogs participating in long distance racing such as the 1,000 mile long Iditarod or Yukon Quest, tend to larger framed bodies than those who participate in sprint events which generally are no longer than 30 miles.

Because the Alaskan husky is more of a loose categorization than an actual breed, we also routinely see widely varying personality traits. We have exuberant dogs who are quick to show affection as well as shier dogs who prefer keeping to themselves and focus strictly on their jobs. This is because the Alaskan Husky is a melting pot of talented working athletes. Their high energy, their love of running, and their physical build help define these incredible dogs. For more information on Alaskan Huskies, check out Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore’s “Dog Mushing Basics” as well as the Iditarod Trail Committee’s “What Is A Sled Dog.”

A Very Brief History of Sled Dogs In Alaska

Historically, sled dogs were the primary method of transportation during the winter months in Alaska. Natives used sled dogs as a way to help with their nomadic lifestyle as they followed herds of caribou. The dogs helped natives move their camps efficiently in the cold winter climates.

During the gold rush in Alaska, sled dogs provided a vital lifeline for the miners in the interior with the outside world. Ships would unload cargo in Seward, Alaska (where our kennel is located) and sled dogs would then deliver that cargo as far as 1200 miles away in the town of Nome, Alaska.

Positions a Sled Dog Can Have In A Team

In dogs sledding, where the dogs are located in the team affects what they have to do. The most involved position belongs to the lead dog, who has to listen and take commands. Other positions on the team include the swing dogs, the team dogs, and the wheel dogs. Most dogs can run on either the left or right side of the gangline and in multiple positions.

Lead Dogs

The most important position in the team belongs to the lead dog. The lead dog or dogs are at the front of the team. While it is more common, especially in media portrayals of dogsledding to see two lead dogs, many lead dogs actually do a better job working alone. The lead dog is responsible for listening to the musher, responding properly to commands, and making sure the team stays on the trail.

When determining new candidates for lead, we look at the 3 A’s: Attitude, Aptitude, and Athleticism. Dogs who run up front need to have at least two of these traits but ideally all three to be a candidate for a lead dog in our kennel.

Swing Dogs

Swing dogs are the pair of sled dogs who run directly behind the lead dogs. The swing dogs are generally leaders as well. Later on in the training season, we may put a pair of young dogs in this position if we see that they have the potential to lead.

This position is a great place to start potential leaders as they are up front in the team but do not have all the pressure of being a lead dog. Dogs in swing still have ability to learn the association between a musher’s commands and the movement of the team. Because of this, it’s thought that running dogs in swings help prepare them for lead dog training later on.

Wheel Dogs

Wheel dogs run directly in front of the sled. Generally, mushers run larger dogs here. Wheel dogs received their name because they are responsible for helping turn the sled. Some mushers prefer running a single wheel dog as when dog sledding the back of the team and the sled can get pulled into corners. By running only one wheel dog, the dog has more mobility when going through twisting trail.

Team Dogs

Team dogs are the dogs in the every other position in the team. There is no special delineation for each set of team dogs. Although they are generally thought of as interchangeable, a good musher knows exactly where to place team dogs to maximize efficiency and work in their team.

Do you have any other questions about sled dogs? Let us know in the comments below!

Tying Up Loose Ends & Starting Fall Dog Sled Runs

Sarah · September 30, 2014 ·

September has come and gone, almost. We’ve spent most of the month tying up loose ends around the kennel, trying to finish all the projects we started but hadn’t quite finished yet. I’m excited that our new website is finally done. So many hours were poured into it– I hope it shows.

Travis and I have felt overwhelmed recently. Our dog sled runs haven’t quite hit a solid rhythm yet of wake, run, rest, run, sleep but we are slowly moving towards that goal. The little things that have left us feeling disorganized are starting to fall in place: the piles of stuff in our basement left over from last mushing season have finally been sorted through and are sitting on new shelves that we installed. Our summer glacier gear for our glacier dogsledding camp has finally found a home and been mostly put away. And, it seems, we are finally remembering the little things: cooking real dinners like Chicken Parm and spaghetti and meatballs, rather than simply getting by on ramen noodles and pizza which is what we ate for most of the summer. I wish I was lying but when you are busy it seems the first thing to go is a nice home cooked meal!

Travis has been excited because our second ATV we use on dog sled runs had a few upgrades made to it. Although the machine doesn’t actually run, it’s perfect for running dogs with. He recently found some new fenders for it on a trip to the dump – what a score. He then pulled the fuel tank out and made a thermos holder. Also new — the padded backrest. May not look it, but it’s a pretty sweet ride!

We are back to the quiet life of fall — no more tours or help around — and it feels good to finally sit down and settle in, the warmth of the wood stove radiating throughout the house after a dog sled run. Our Friday nights have consisted of netflix and puppies romping around through our living room.

During our quiet moments at home we’ve allowed the young dogs to run wild through the yard, their squirming endless energy exciting the kennel and keeping everyone’s tails wagging. They are so much fun right now. It’s a great age.

The dog sled runs we have gone on have shown lots of promise. We’ve been working with new lead dogs and some of our younger sled dogs who were born last summer. Today, we ran Marlowe who just turned a year old in lead. To say he was amazing would be an understatement. He is a confident young dog who simply loves to go. From the first moment we put him up front he was an absolute natural. I’m so excited to be working with him and a couple of our other young sled dogs this year. I had so much fun free running them and bringing them inside last year while Travis was training. Watching them develop athletically into talented sled dogs has been exciting.

It’s still warm out but we’ve started doing 10 mile runs with the team. Hopefully, we’ll be able to head north to longer trails soon. The loops we run at home aren’t long but they at least provide some training and there is plenty of water in creeks along the side of the road.

Well, Travis has finished his coffee so we are going to head out on the trail again. We’ve been having fun running together.